Regional Soil Nutrient Balances for Cropland in 1920s Catalonia, Spain

Understanding the replacement of soil nutrients removed by harvests makes it possible to understand the influence of humans on long-term soil fertility. This article calculates nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium balances for cropland in 1920 for three agroecoregions distinguished by particular historical settlement patterns, land use, geography, and climatic characteristics in Catalonia, Spain. The analysis assesses and compares the regional potential for farmers to have returned the nutrients extracted from croplands at a time of transition, when only a few synthetic fertilizers were yet available. From sustainability science, the article borrows a methodology to reconstruct soil nutrient balances in historical agroecosystems from available regional historical sources. The soil balances indicate that nutrient extractions were balanced with the additions in Catalonia's wetter Pyrenees and eastern regions, but were in deficit in the arid western regions, where less livestock manure was available. In Barcelona province, farmers made considerable use of synthetic fertilizers already in 1920. Such fertilizers were mainly intended to supplement phosphorus in the eastern region, suggesting that they played an important role there too, where there was not enough manure.I am very grateful to Geoff Cunfer and Laura Larsen for the English language correction and final editing of the text. This research was supported by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Partnership Grant 895-2011-1020 and the Spanish MICINN JdCF2016 No. FJCI-2016-30263

The interaction between monoamine oxidase A and punitive discipline in the development of antisocial behavior: Mediation by maladaptive social information processing.

Previous studies demonstrate that boys' monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) genotype interacts with adverse rearing environments in early childhood, including punitive discipline, to predict later antisocial behavior. Yet the mechanisms by which MAOA and punitive parenting interact during childhood to amplify risk for antisocial behavior are not well understood. In the present study, hostile attributional bias and aggressive response generation during middle childhood, salient aspects of maladaptive social information processing, were tested as possible mediators of this relation in a sample of 187 low-income men followed prospectively from infancy into early adulthood. Given racial-ethnic variation in MAOA allele frequencies, analyses were conducted separately by race. In both African American and Caucasian men, those with the low-activity MAOA allele who experienced more punitive discipline at age 1.5 generated more aggressive responses to perceived threat at age 10 relative to men with the high-activity variant. In the African American subsample only, formal mediation analyses indicated a marginally significant indirect effect of maternal punitiveness on adult arrest records via aggressive response generation in middle childhood. The findings suggest that maladaptive social information processing may be an important mechanism underlying the association between MAOA × Parenting interactions and antisocial behavior in early adulthood. The present study extends previous work in the field by demonstrating that MAOA and harsh parenting assessed in early childhood interact to not only predict antisocial behavior in early adulthood, but also predict social information processing, a well-established social-cognitive correlate of antisocial behavior

Interactions between empathy and resting heart rate in early adolescence predict violent behavior in late adolescence and early adulthood.

BackgroundAlthough resting heart rate (RHR) and empathy are independently and negatively associated with violent behavior, relatively little is known about the interplay between these psychophysiological and temperament-related risk factors.MethodsUsing a sample of 160 low-income, racially diverse men followed prospectively from infancy through early adulthood, this study examined whether RHR and empathy during early adolescence independently and interactively predict violent behavior and related correlates in late adolescence and early adulthood.ResultsControlling for child ethnicity, family income, and child antisocial behavior at age 12, empathy inversely predicted moral disengagement and juvenile petitions for violent crimes, while RHR was unrelated to all measures of violent behavior. Interactive effects were also evident such that among men with lower but not higher levels of RHR, lower empathy predicted increased violent behavior, as indexed by juvenile arrests for violent offenses, peer-reported violent behavior at age 17, self-reported moral disengagement at age 17, and self-reported violent behavior at age 20.ConclusionsImplications for prevention and intervention are considered. Specifically, targeting empathic skills among individuals at risk for violent behavior because of specific psychophysiological profiles may lead to more impactful interventions

The benefits are at the tail: uncovering the impact of macroprudential policy on growth-at-risk

Este estudio une los desarrollos recientes sobre la metodología de crecimiento en riesgo con la literatura sobre evaluaciones de impacto de la política macroprudencial. Para ello, extiendo el uso de regresiones cuantílicas del crecimiento del PIB con el objetivo de incluir variables macrofinancieras con propiedades de alerta temprana de riesgo sistémico y medidas macroprudenciales. Como resultado, encuentro efectos heterogéneos de la política macroprudencial sobre el crecimiento del PIB, los cuales permiten identificar beneficios importantes sobre la cola izquierda de su distribución. Este efecto positivo de la política macroprudencial en la reducción del crecimiento en riesgo es mayor que el impacto negativo sobre la mediana de la distribución, lo que sugiere un efecto neto positivo en el medio plazo. No obstante, estos efectos son heterogéneos y dependen de la posición en el ciclo financiero, la dirección de la política, el tipo de instrumento implementado y el tiempo transcurrido desde su implementación. En particular, el endurecimiento de medidas de capital durante fases expansivas del ciclo puede tardar hasta dos años en evidenciar beneficios sobre el crecimiento en riesgo, mientras que el efecto positivo de medidas de límites a los estándares crediticios se materializaría rápidamente. Esto sugiere la necesidad de implementar medidas de capital, como el colchón de capital anticíclico, con suficiente antelación respecto al desarrollo del ciclo, mientras que el endurecimiento de límites a los estándares crediticios podría implementarse en etapas más avanzadas. Por otra parte, durante episodios de crisis financieras, los beneficios de la liberación de capital son inmediatos, mientras que los de la relajación de límites a los estándares de crédito son más limitados. En general, este estudio brinda un marco de gran utilidad para la evaluación de los costes y los beneficios de la política macroprudencial en términos de crecimiento del PIB y permite identificar la estructura temporal de instrumentos específicos.This paper brings together recent developments on the growth-at-risk methodology and the literature on the impact of macroprudential policy. For this purpose, I extend the recent proposals on the use of quantile regressions of GDP growth by including macrofinancial variables with early warning properties of systemic risk, and macroprudential measures. I identify heterogeneous effects of macroprudential policy on GDP growth, uncovering important benefits on the left tail of its distribution. The positive effect of macroprudential policy on reducing the downside risk of GDP is found to be larger than the negative impact on the median, suggesting a net positive effect in the mid-term. Nonetheless, I identify heterogeneous effects depending on the position in the financial cycle, the direction of the policy, the type of instrument, and the time elapsed since its implementation. In particular, tightening capital measures during expansions may take up to two years in evidencing benefits on growth-at-risk, while the positive impact of borrower-based measures is rapidly observed. This suggests the need of implementing capital measures, such as the countercyclical capital buffer, early enough in the cycle; while borrower-based measures can be tightened in more advanced stages. Conversely, in downturns the benefits of loosening capital measures are immediate, while those of borrower-based measures are limited. Overall, this study provides a useful framework to assess costs and benefits of macroprudential policy in terms of GDP growth, and to identify the term-structure of specific types of instruments

Measuring credit-to-GDP gaps : the Hodrick-Prescott filter revisited

La brecha crédito-PIB calculada con la metodología recomendada por el Comité de Supervisión Bancaria de Basilea (BCBS, por sus siglas en inglés) presenta importantes limitaciones, debido principalmente a la alta inercia de la tendencia de largo plazo estimada, que no permite capturar de manera apropiada cambios estructurales o rápidos en la tendencia. Como resultado, la brecha estimada presenta actualmente en muchos países valores muy negativos, que no reflejan de un modo adecuado el entorno de riesgo cíclico ni su posición en el ciclo financiero. Esto ha llevado a que la gran mayoría de los países que han activado recientemente el Colchón de Capital Anticíclico (CCA) no estén siguiendo las señales derivadas de este indicador. La principal razón de estas discrepancias entre las señales del indicador y la actual posición en el ciclo financiero de muchos países puede estar relacionada no solo con las propiedades de los métodos de filtrado estadístico, sino también con la adaptación específica del filtro de Hodrick-Prescott (HP) recomendada por el BCBS para el cálculo de la brecha. En particular, el parámetro de suavización del filtro HP propuesto asume una duración del ciclo de crédito mucho mayor que la evidenciada empíricamente en la mayoría de los países, lo que lleva a que la tendencia de largo plazo estimada tenga una memoria muy larga. Este estudio evalúa si una relajación de este supuesto mejora la capacidad predictiva del indicador y su utilidad para identificar señales de riesgo sistémico cíclico que permitan informar adecuadamente sobre decisiones de política macroprudencial en los próximos añosLos resultados sugieren que adaptaciones del filtro HP que asumen una menor duración del ciclo de crédito, más coherente con la evidencia empírica, mejoran la capacidad predictiva del indicador y corrigen el sesgo negativo tras los eventos de crisis, en comparación con la brecha calculada con la metodología propuesta por el BCBS. Esto se evidencia no solo en el caso de España, sino también en otros países de la Unión Europea. Finalmente, se encuentra que los resultados obtenidos con las diferentes adaptaciones del filtro HP presentan una capacidad predictiva superior a la de otros métodos de filtrado estadístico y comparable con la obtenida con modelos econométricosThe credit-to-GDP gap computed under the methodology recommended by Basel Committee for Banking Supervision (BCBS) suffers of important limitations mainly regarding the great inertia of the estimated long-run trend, which does not allow capturing properly structural changes or sudden changes in the trend. As a result, the estimated gap currently yields large negative values which do not reflect properly the position in the financial cycle and the cyclical risk environment in many countries. Certainly, most countries that have activated the Countercyclical Capital Buffer (CCyB) in recent years appear not to be following the signals provided by this indicator. The main underlying reason for this might not be only related to the properties of statistical filtering methods, but to the particular adaptation made by the BCBS for the computation of the gap. In particular, the proposed one-sided Hodrick-Prescott filter (HP) only accounts for past observations and the value of the smoothing parameter assumes a much longer length of the credit cycle that those empirically evidenced in most countries, leading the trend to have very long memory. This study assesses whether relaxing this assumption improves the performance of the filter and would still allow this statistical method to be useful in providing accurate signals of cyclical systemic risk and thereby inform macroprudential policy decisionsFindings suggest that adaptations of the filter that assume a lower length of the credit cycle, more consistent with empirical evidence, help improve the early warning performance and correct the downward bias compared to the original gap proposed by the BCBS. This is not only evidenced in the case of Spain but also in several other EU countries. Finally, the results of the proposed adaptations of the HP filter are also found to perform fairly well when compared to other statistical filters and model-based indicator

Bacterial toxins and the immune system: show me the in vivo targets

Microorganisms that cause persistent infection often exhibit specific adaptations that allow them to avoid the adaptive immune response. Recently, several bacterial toxins have been shown in vitro to disrupt immune cell functions. However, it remains to be established whether these activities are relevant during infection and whether these toxins have specifically evolved to disrupt the adaptive immune system

Modulation of Rab GTPase function by a protein phosphocholine transferase.

The intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila modulates the activity of host GTPases to direct the transport and assembly of the membrane-bound compartment in which it resides. In vitro studies have indicated that the Legionella protein DrrA post-translationally modifies the GTPase Rab1 by a process called AMPylation. Here we used mass spectrometry to investigate post-translational modifications to Rab1 that occur during infection of host cells by Legionella. Consistent with in vitro studies, DrrA-mediated AMPylation of a conserved tyrosine residue in the switch II region of Rab1 was detected during infection. In addition, a modification to an adjacent serine residue in Rab1 was discovered, which was independent of DrrA. The Legionella effector protein AnkX was required for this modification. Biochemical studies determined that AnkX directly mediates the covalent attachment of a phosphocholine moiety to Rab1. This phosphocholine transferase activity used CDP-choline as a substrate and required a conserved histidine residue located in the FIC domain of the AnkX protein. During infection, AnkX modified both Rab1 and Rab35, which explains how this protein modulates membrane transport through both the endocytic and exocytic pathways of the host cell. Thus, phosphocholination of Rab GTPases represents a mechanism by which bacterial FIC-domain-containing proteins can alter host-cell functions

Heterogeneous effects of risk-taking on bank efficiency : a stochastic frontier model with random coefficients

We estimate a stochastic frontier model with random inefficiency parameters, which allows us not only to identify the role of bank risk-taking on driving cost and profit inefficiency, but also to recognize heterogeneous effects of risk exposure on banks with different characteristics. We account for an integral group of risk exposure covariates including credit, liquidity, capital and market risk, as well as bank-specific characteristics of size and affiliation. The model is estimated for the Colombian banking sector during the period 2002-2012. Results suggest that risk-taking drives inefficiency and its omission leads to over (under) estimate cost (profit) efficiency. Risk-taking is also found to have different effects on efficiency of banks with different size and affiliation, and those involved in mergers and acquisitions. In particular, greater exposures to credit and market risk are found to be key profit efficiency drivers.Likewise, lower liquidity risk and capital risk lead to higher efficiency in both costs and profits. Large, foreign and merged banks benefit more when assuming credit risk, while small, domestic and non-merged banks institutions take advantage of assuming higher market riskJorge E. Galán acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, research project ECO2012-340

Taking control : Hijacking of Rab GTPases by intracellular bacterial pathogens

Work in the Spanò laboratory is supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant no. 109680/Z/15/Z), the Royal Society (grant no. RG150386), and the BBSRC (grant no. BB/N017854/1). Work in the Galán laboratory is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (grants AI055472 and AI079022 to J.E.G.).Peer reviewedPostprin